No-shows mean no chance
PFFC 3 Husaria 2 New Cross Irregulars 1
Yet again, 5 becomes 4 in the Philosophy ranks due to unavailability of players. Plus there was once again a no-show from Aesthetico Athletico. Hmmmmm … is this the beginning of the end of the 6-team 3sided league? Reigning champions New Cross Irregulars turned up without two of their mainstays, and Husaria were also not fully equipped and tried to muster in a loanee from Kosovo to become quorate! The general sense of both anarchy and reluctance ended with a group of four individuals who occasionally turn up to watch the game making up an ad-hoc team to enable the second game to go ahead, whilst PFFC, Husaria and New Cross muddled together on the other pitch.
(l–r): Andrew, Rob, Mark, Ömer.
All this meant that we kicked off late. Thankfully, however, this time the Red Men are more disciplined in our sojourns upfield. An eventful first half includes two goal-line clearances from (Magic) Mark and then a great one-two combination between Andrew and Ömer ended with Andrew blasting the ball past Greg in the Husaria goal. New Cross added a second against Husaria, and the first third finished with the scores Husaria 2 PFFC 0 New Cross 0.
The second of the three 20-minute spells was a continual ebb and flow between the three goals. Ömer launched some spectacular efforts at the Polish goal, and each of the three keepers made some smart saves, until a wicked deflection crawled over the PFFC line to complete the action at the end of a pulsating ‘half’.
The final third was marked by a catalogue of odd occurrences. A bizarre second goal against PFFC came when, in trying to clear the ball, Ömer hit it against a New Cross player and it then pinballed between the two of them before cannoning off of poor Ömer’s nose and looped into the net, past a stranded Rob, who had committed himself diving to save the first shot! John, for New Cross, scored the own goal of the season, heading sturdily past his own keeper, when seemingly under no pressure; and then a lobbed shot sailed over both Rob and Mark, hit the bar and, rather than bounce out, slid down and bounced over the line before being hacked away! Goal-line technology, through an honest appraisal of the situation, gave it as a goal! We then saw some unnecessary fouls by one of the Husaria players, and this perhaps soured the game somewhat.
However, at the final whistle – albeit after a few added minutes – PFFC took another hit, losing with the following score line: PFFC 3 Husaria 2 New Cross 1. Ah well, there’s always November!
Squad: Rob, Mark, Ömer, Andrew.